These are the mad political rantings of one Matthew McNeil, Liberal/Democratic radio host in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. The postings are mine, the thoughts are mine. Mostly about politics, but I will occasionally get into raising kids, cooking, gardening, the arts and my favorite sports. Bon Appetite!
This week we get a little science-y but first, we look at a Marvel movie coming out that I'm super psyched about.
Thunderbolts is the Marvel version of The Suicide Squad, with heroes and villains looking for redemption and getting a chance at it on a team that is...less than safe. I think the bringing together of the rag-tag throw-away characters from the last few years of Marvel movies is exciting, but it's one individual character I'm most excited about, Bob Reynolds, The Sentry.
Sentry is a relatively new character in Marvel history, coming around at the turn of the century, but he ended up being part of an INSANELY good run of Avengers stories. New Avengers, Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, and the Dark Avengers. Pick up an Avengers comic from around 1999 to 2012, and you won't go wrong.
Sentry is Marvel's version of Superman, but he is horribly flawed. I have no idea how they'll introduce him in this movie, but Thunderbolts is a MUST-SEE movie for me, the first must-see Marvel movie in a few years. Here is the trailer.
A fun video for me was this one about the largest visible crater on the planet, FAR bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.
When I went to the Grand Canyon, I found out the bottom of the canyon was about 1.9 Billion years ago. A Geologist said that goes back to the time right after a massive asteroid impact, which almost wiped out all simple life before it started to flourish. I had forgotten about that little nugget until I caught this video about that specific asteroid hit from The SciShow YouTube channel.
Also From The SciShow, here is a video about The Doorway to the Underground in Siberia and how, due to climate change, for better or worse, we can't stop its growth.
I got my latest COVID shot and my flu shot for 2024 this week. PLEASE get yours as soon as possible. I don't want any of you to get sick.
I just literally saw this and decided to make it the top video tonight.
What if Trump was Sauron, courtesy of the game show Game Changer!
Also some laughs from two people who probably get NFL football better than anyone else. These individuals make videos where they are the personification of every NFL team or their fans.
First is Annie Agar who is wickedly funny and gets the team's facial reactions perfect!
Next is Tom Grossi who manages to capture the joy and agony of the fans.
Finally tonight is the hilarious Sarah Cooper with her take on Trump/Harris debate!
It would be cliche to post some Friday the 13th spooky videos (and it is something I've done before), but instead, I have part 2 of Chef Reactions' visit to Minneapolis St. Paul.
Two weeks ago I focused on his visit to the Minnesota State Fair. A quick update on that. Much like a lazy cooking video Chef Reactions would destroy, since the Fair I have viewed at least four other 'State Fair Food' videos, and they all were LAME! If you're going to come to the MN State Fair at least do some research about what food items are new and popular. And food review guys, if you don't want to wait in line for the best food options, what you shouldn't do is just grab the easiest food you can and act like it's mainstay MN Fair food items. One video pissed me off as they only sampled marginal food items at booths with no line, foods no one ever talks about when they talk about the State Fair. Those booths have no line for a reason. You're not winning if all you do is punt.
Just like he did at the Minnesota State Fair, Chef Reactions is a really good example of how you land in a new community and dive right into the local scene. Nice get on the Saints first pitch! Kramarczuk's getting a 100 out of 10 was AWESOME! Couldn't agree more. Saint Dinette (while it's still around) is a VERY underrated gem. And Matt's Juicy Lucy got a 10 out of 10.
Chef Reactions, thank you for coming here, PLEASE come back, and when you do, I have a few more suggestions for you.
Also tonight is Stephen Colbert's recap of the Trump/Harris debate. I was watching this at first with a group of station listeners at Crooner's and then at home with my wife and kids. Watching Harris absolutely dismantle Trump was a thing of beauty.
When the conservative pundits are furious that some idiot put the fake 'Haitians eating cats' story in front of Trump, something he would undoubtedly throw out there when he was getting shellacked by Harris, it tells you how badly the night went for him.
Truthfully I could EASILY post Kimmel and Stewart too, but I thought Colbert's was the funniest.
That's it this week! Have a wonderful weekend.
Please make sure to stay up to date on your vaccines and flu shots!
This week I start with something completely political, and if you are a Trump fan, you might want to skip the video.
First this caveat, the New York Times is garbage. We canceled our weekly subscription a few months back after it was clear they had a much harsher and more critical filter when they looked at President Joe Biden, versus Trump. Most of the major news media has always treated Trump with kid gloves, and this election cycle they seem determined to put their fingers on the scale to help him out. A much better synopsis of this flawed national news media can be read in the Guardian with a SPOT ON piece from Rebecca Solnit (The mainstream press is failing America – and people are understandably upset).
That being said, this piece from the New York Times is not so much flawed news coverage, but rather a piece about Allan Lichtman, a historian from American University who has a pretty successful formula for picking the winner of Presidential elections. He looks at the upcoming election and filters the candidates through his formula, and BINGO! He predicts...Harris!
As positive as I think that outcome is, I will repeat what will be my mantra for the rest of the election cycle: DONATE, VOLUNTEER, AND VOTE!!!
Okay, onto something else. 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' was a pretty funny show at times, and here are nearly 40 minutes of some pretty good laughs from the show.
The final thing tonight is a clip from Terminator which takes me back. This is from the 4K UHD HDR cut and frankly, this movie looks like it was released yesterday. It's amazing how clean they can make images from (gulps loudly) 40 years ago look so clean.
It's the scene from the Tech Noir Club, but this scene is wonderfully shot. It's also somewhat violent, so you've been warned!
Have a great weekend everyone. Please be careful in large crowds as COVID is back. Please make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations.
